Mono-tubular, naturally water porous textile casings have their bores filled with dry cementitious material, such as concrete or mortar mix, and resemble generally thin, flexible rope-like articles which can have lengths of up to 3000 cm or more. The cement-containing flexible rope-like articles provide a novel, highly economic and improved material of construction, as well as being suitable in fabricating useful articles of commerce. That is, the flexible rope-like structures can be employed in a wide range of applications in masonry and cement construction, such as caulking filler between foundations and driveways; as convenient mortar ropes in the reinforcement of stone, rock, brick and block structures, like culvert bridges, drainage ditches, railroad roadbeds; as temporary templates or skeletons for A-frame structures, or as chocks for dry foundations in areas which might be inaccessible to ready-mix concrete trucks, to name but a few.
Similarly, the cement-containing flexible rope-like articles can be wetted and woven into grid or lattice structures for use as fencing, gates, grids for outdoor fireplaces and grills or fabricated in-situ into subterranean anchoring supports for posts, poles and signs for the elimination of large amounts of pourable concrete normally required. The cement-containing flexible rope-like articles likewise can be fashioned into art forms for interior decorations, e.g. artificial plants and architectural designs like window shutters and doors to reflect a rustic or contemporary art form.
In the fields of masonry and concrete construction it is customary to employ mortar mixes in bonding brick and stone structures. Unlike concrete tradesmen, bricklayers and stone masons require greater time intervals for laying a course of bricks or blocks. To achieve this end, conventional mortar mixes rely on formulations which include inter-alia higher water concentrations than with poured concrete. This allows for a "soft" or wetter consistency to assure that the mortar remains in a workable or plastic state for longer intervals. Hence, concrete mixes which set-up much sooner are usually unsuitable for use as mortars, grouts and filler/caulking applications in reinforcing and bonding brick, block, stone, etc.
While it would be desirable to employ concrete in place of conventional mortars in certain types of construction because of its greater compressive strength and structural values the shorter set-up times associated with hydrated concrete make it impractical in most instances for use as mortar. Additional water and/or retardants might be added to concrete mixes to increase set-up time intervals, but this would result in trade-offs in structural values and strength. Accordingly, it was discovered that the cement-containing flexible rope-like mono-tubular bodies disclosed herein comprising outer textile casings which are naturally permeable to water for controlled chemical hydration advantageously permit less water to be used in hydrating the cementitious material while also increasing the time interval for setting-up. It was found that the water permeable textile casings provide less exposure of the hydrated cementitious material to ambient air conditions, and concomitant slower evaporation of moisture therefrom. Hence, the flexible rope-like articles permit the use of maximum strength concrete in place of lesser strength mortars, to provide useful mortar-like materials with greater structural values.
Others have attempted to fabricate tubular-like articles filled with cementitious material. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,096,944 to Simpson discloses a grouting cartridge for an anchoring device fabricated with a frangible outer tubular casing filled with cement powder and water containing microcapsules. The cement powder is hydrated when an anchoring element pierces the non-porous casing and fractures the microcapsules dispersed in the powder. U.S. Pat. No. 4,516,884 to Douty also discloses a grouting cartridge which relies on the use of pressure sensitive liquid-containing capsules for hydrating a dry cement interior.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,395,162 to Murphy et al disclose another type of anchoring cartridge which employs an impermeable outer casing filled with cement. In order to hydrate the cement the cartridge per se must be perforated. Murphy et al disclose a modified anchoring cartridge in U.S. Pat. 4,399,911 wherein a porous tube is required to be inserted into a liquid impermeable casing to wet the grouting mix inside.
Accordingly, there is a need for a more economical, convenient to use and versatile cement-containing flexible rope-like article which can be hydrated without costly mechanisms, and which can be fabricated with an outer casing which is naturally permeable to water for controlled hydration of the cementitious material packaged in the interior for maximizing strength and structural properties.